TY - ENCYC

T1 - Zaire (The Congo)

AU - Hoffmann, Kasper

PY - 2016/3

Y1 - 2016/3

N2 - Ethnicity and nationalism are formative social and political identities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The colonial state solidified hitherto ambiguous boundaries between social and political identities by deploying firm ethnic categories to classify the native peoples and by confining them in ethnic territories. Although unitary nationalism emerged at the end of colonization, intra- and interethnic competition has dominated politics in the postcolonial era. The single-party state of Mobutu tried to monopolize the use of ethnicity in the public realm, but its lack of legitimacy paved the way for the proliferation of ethnic competition across the country. The Congolese Wars have entrenched ethnic identities in the country.

AB - Ethnicity and nationalism are formative social and political identities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The colonial state solidified hitherto ambiguous boundaries between social and political identities by deploying firm ethnic categories to classify the native peoples and by confining them in ethnic territories. Although unitary nationalism emerged at the end of colonization, intra- and interethnic competition has dominated politics in the postcolonial era. The single-party state of Mobutu tried to monopolize the use of ethnicity in the public realm, but its lack of legitimacy paved the way for the proliferation of ethnic competition across the country. The Congolese Wars have entrenched ethnic identities in the country.

U2 - 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen616

DO - 10.1002/9781118663202.wberen616

M3 - Encyclopedia chapter

SN - 978-1-4051-8978-1

T3 - Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedias in Social Sciences

BT - The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, andNationalism

A2 - Stone, John

A2 - Dennis, Rutledge M.

A2 - Rizova, Polly

A2 - Smith, Anthony D.

A2 - Hou, Xiaoshuo

PB - Wiley

ER -